Doug BeghtelPortland Trail Blazers vs. the Denver Nuggets. Good defense by Brandon Roy on Denver's Carmelo Anthony in the last minutes of the game helped Portland win the game.

Being that's it's Sunday, and close to the holidays, there isn't too much Blazer news floating around out there. Despite that, we thought why not throw what we got up on the blog.

Joe Freeman works on Sundays, too. And apparently, so does Darius Miles. Yes, Darius Miles:

Darius Miles participated in five-on-five half-court scrimmages and light full-court drills during the Trail Blazers' practice on Sunday, making another step of progress from the microfracture knee surgery that has sidelined him for more than a year.

[snip]

"It was fine, it felt good to play with more than one person," Miles said. "I'm anxious to play. I love what we are doing. I love the chemistry and everything about what's going on right now."

This was up yesterday, but you get it today. Henry Abbott sits down with Blazers Assistant Coach Dean Demopoulos. Demopoulos touches on the streak, Travis Outlaw, Sergio Rodriguez, Greg Oden and much more. Good read:

This roster hasn't had very long together.
Well, this is Nate's third year. But we've just made major changes over the year. You know, Randolph was a great force. And now we've traded him and changed the team up. So far you see growth, you know. That's what we're looking for as coaches. Who knew about ten wins in a row or wins at all for that matter. But you look for growth in your players. Things where they start repeating the things a fair amount of times, so you can call it habit.

Sunday is for columns. The Sunday Click is a weekly trip around the country in search of the best of the NBA columnists the web has to offer.

The temperature won't reach 50 degrees on Portland today and they're probably going to have a wet Christmas in Oregon. But right now, there is no place hotter in the NBA than the Rose City. Continue reading >>

While all the stories listed in that link are pretty good, the comments I like best are written by Sekou K. Smith of the AJC. Other than our man, Jason Quick, Smith is probably one of the better NBA beat writers in the business (you can check out his blog, right here). His take on the Blazers:

Trail Blazers
Record: 15-12
The road to respectability: This is perhaps the most surprising outfit in the league, what with the Blazers being the youngest team in the league and Oden being on the shelf for the season. Coach Nate McMillan, one of the league's most underrated floor bosses, has pushed all the right buttons with his young squad. Brandon Roy is playing like an All-Star. LaMarcus Aldridge has filled the void for Oden, leading the team in rebounds and ranking second to Roy in points. And players who previously played bit roles -- guys like Travis Outlaw, Joel Przybilla, James Jones and Martell Webster - are showing signs of being a legitimate supporting cast.

Brian Hendrickson over at the Columbian has a complete breakdown of the Blazers' win streak (PDF). And here's a couple of his notes on the streak:

-- Brandon is scoring just under a 14 on the "projected value" sabremetrics stat, putting him at a solid all-star level during the streak. On one had that's impressive, but with some of the numbers he's been putting up, I thought it would be even higher. But what was really impressive was that he was at a 15.6 in the fourth quarter -- MVP level.

-- We all know Travis Outlaw has been Mr. Clutch in the fourth quarter, and it showed in the stats. He scored a 15.3 on the sabremetrics rating for the fourth quarter, and a 10.2 overall. He is shooting 52 percent from the field in the fourth quarter during the streak, and is leading the team with a 7.0-point scoring average in the final period.

4. Portland continued its unlikely run, winning its ninth consecutive game by rallying from a 7-point fourth quarter deficit against Toronto behind Brandon Roy's 25 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Roy is headed towards a third consecutive Western Conference Player of the Week award and has the Blazers in the playoff hunt through the quarter point of the season.

"He's not just having a hot streak," coach Nate McMillan said. "What we're seeing out of him is what he is capable of doing."

Given his production and the steady development of LaMarcus Aldridge, Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster, it's scary to think what the Blazers would be doing if top draft pick Greg Oden were healthy. As it stands now, they're right in the chase for the top spot in the Northwest Division.

Elano (Manchester, England): With Oden a few weeks away from running, do you think if Portland scrapes into the playoffs he makes a comeback this season?

Marc Stein: Absolutely, positively not. Playoff talk in Portland is premature anyway, amazing as this run with Roy and Outlaw has been, but nothing that happens this season is worth bringing Oden back for. The win streak suggests that the future is obviously brighter than anyone imagined. Why mess with it?

Guess that answers that question. Also, check out the great picture of Roy, Outlaw and Webster.

Is this Blazers streak improbable, unbelievable, amazing, exciting, or just plain absurd? (thanks to Bruce MacGregor for the link).

I was watching KGW's Sports Sunday tonight, and your favorite Blazers TV color man, Mike Barrett, was a featured guest, talking Blazers. Barrett mentioned the relationship Kevin Pritchard has with Nate McMillan, along with Pritchard's relationship with the players, noting that KP is always the first guy on the court to congratulate the team after a win. Just attribute that makes this team so likable.

Barrett also speculated that Roy could be in for a third-straight Western Conference Player of the Week award. That would be something special.

What do you think? Will/should Roy win the POW again? What's on your Blazers Christmas list? Should Pritchard continue to sport the pink? Comments needed below.